Tuesday 21 March 2017

WORKING STIFFS . . . Out today!

Release day:

Driven Press is excited to welcome Scott Bell and his latest novel

Working Stiffs

. . . available now. 



At a time when civil liberties have been eroded and unemployment has exceeded Great Depression levels, nanotechnology provides the ability to reanimate the recently dead. Far from zombies, but nothing like their former selves, “Revivants” are a ready source of cheap labor able to perform simple, routine tasks. Great news for some sectors, but for many, the economic and social impact is devastating.
Enter Joe Warren—an unemployed college dropout, who is self-absorbed and disinterested in the world’s problems. All Joe wants is a job, food on his table, and a cure for his girlfriend’s lingering illness. What Joe gets is a stint in jail with a bunch of self-proclaimed freedom fighters, and coerced to become an informant by federal government agents.
Joe is forced to examine his me-first attitude, and in the process learns that some things just might be worth fighting—or dying—for.

Exclusive excerpt:

Corpus Interruptus


“How far do you think he’ll get?” Homeland Agent Maravich used his pinkie to circle the inside of his nostril.
Across the street from the Huateng Tower, in what was once the Magnificent Mile Marriott but was now a deserted hulk harboring junkies, alkies, and lice, Agents Ramirez and Maravich followed Joseph Warren’s antics on a portable vid screen. Scratchy audio buzzed from tiny speakers. An inset window indicated the subject’s position in real-time and read out his vital stats in a tiny scroll at the bottom.
“Far enough to hang himself.” Ramirez leaned over the monitor, set up on what was once the circular bar in the Marriott’s lobby. He refused to let any part of his body other than the soles of his shoes touch any surface in the derelict building. Water dripped and things skittered in the dark corners of the open space, long since stripped of fixtures and covered in a layer of filth deep as cake icing.
A team of six TAC officers in full gear held position near the boarded-up entrance. A chain hung from a hole in the plywood, its lock a thing of distant memory. The glut of street people lurking in the lobby had slunk away like feral dogs when Ramirez and his fellow agents shoved open the damp and rotting barrier and flashed lights around the interior. Ramirez perceived them hovering in the shadows the way a ship’s captain sensed bad weather over the horizon.
“So what is it about this dingleberry?” Maravich studied the small screen, his Eastern European ancestry evident in the flat planes and angles of his face. “This Warren guy, he ain’t much.”
“He’s going to get us in.”
“You think?”
“Warren is the only person I’ve ever seen get close to MacCauley who wasn’t one of her fanatics.”
“And you think that’s enough?”
On the screen, Warren accessed the security door and the camera view switched to inside the room. Ramirez smirked as their subject tapped his way through the building’s security features.
“There’s more to Warren than meets the eye,” he told Maravich. “He’s a survivor. I get a lever on him; he’ll do what we need.”
“You say so.” Maravich shrugged. He snorted and spat across the bar. “I think the guy’s a chump.”
“He is. But he’s our chump. He’ll get us in, and we’ll run down these terrorist fucks once and for all. These assholes think they can tear down the foundation of this country and destroy the United States government. I will not, under any circumstances, allow that to happen. If I have to sacrifice a hundred Joseph Warrens, it’ll be a small price to pay.”

Working Stiffs . . . available now!


Paperback available from:

US$15.99


More info:

www.drivenpress.net

and Goodreads:


Working Stiffs


Author:

Scott Bell holds a degree in criminal justice from North Texas State University and has enjoyed careers in both asset protection as well as sales. With the kids grown and time on his hands, Scott turned back to his first love—writing. His short stories have been published in The Western OnlineCast of Wonders, and in the anthology, DesolationYeager's Law, published in 2015, was his first novel, with its sequel, Yeager's Mission, published in 2016. April's Fool was also published in 2016.
When he’s not writing, Scott is on the eternal quest to answer the question: What would John Wayne do?

Find Scott at: